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The next 'Traditional Qi Gong' course starts Sunday 1st November. Check the detail here: www.gigimirto.com/seminars.htm

This is the last course for the year, although there will be a few one-day workshops also coming up...

It has been a while since I first started to think about ways to support people who invest into regular sessions. Initially I was uncertain as to how I would actually do this, then, over the last few days, the idea took shape...see the outcome so far: www.gigimirto.com/prevention.htm

I welcome feedback, through the comments on this post or by email.

QI: VAPOUR, BREATH AND VITAL ENERGY The most complicated and difficult to articulate concept in the ancient Chinese thought and philosophy is certainly that of Qi, Vital Energy. It is present in all that is manifest in the universe, in any which form. Qi is, in fact, the ‘matrix’ of everything. Breath, vibration, wave, quark, weave.

 The Chinese character for Qi represents rice which, being cooked, gives off vapour, steam: 

 The rice, in the lower right portion of the character, is the material (Yin), nourishing and sustaining aspect, while the vapour is the ethereal (Yang), evolutionary and moving aspect. Without movement Qi ceases to exist. In human beings, Qi is categorised in a variety of different ‘types’, representing the evolution of Qi through different, specific aspects of the organism. 

QI: PRE-NATAL ENERGIES

The first ‘types’ of Qi to impact on the person are known as ‘pre-natal Qi’, which is very much the equivalent of the western concept of ‘genetic pool’ and DNA, and is composed by: 

[  Yuan Qi – species

[  Zong Qi – progeny

[  Jing Qi – parents (conception) 

The specific combination of these ‘energies’ (aspects of Qi at different evolutionary stages) determines, inalterably, the personal characteristics of the individual, at all levels.

QI: POST-NATAL ENERGIES 

Post-natal Qi is, instead, the sum total of the ‘external’ energies that the organism has the ability to utilise and the ‘internal’ ones it can produce independently, through them, in its lifespan. The main external energies are: 

[  Gu Qi – food (Earth)

[  Da Qi – air/oxygen (Sky/Heaven) 

The food is macerated in the Stomach and divided there into ‘useful’ and ‘scrap’ (faeces). The useful part is transformed into Gu Qi by the Spleen, which further transforms it into blood (Xue), and transports it to the Lungs, which potentiate it combining it with Da Qi from the air (sometimes also known as Feng Qi), ultimately creating Zhong Qi. The Lungs use a portion of Zhong Qi to produce Wei Qi, our protective Energy (equivalent to the western concept of ‘immune system’), they distribute it to the skin and send the rest to the Kidneys, which ‘blend’ it with Jing (pre-natal Energy or Essence) giving origin to the Zhen Qi (post-natal Energy), which supports and sustains all energetic and physiological functions of the organism.

Some examples of Yin/Yang foods and their principal therapeutic actions
Food	Yin/Yang	Action
Cereals	-	-
Rice	Neutral	Harmonising
Corn	Yin	Tonifying and digestive
Barley	Yang	Tonifying
Oats	Yin	Calming e tonifying
Vegies	-	-
Asparagus	Yin	Diuretic e purifying
Carrot	Yin	Antiseptic and sedative
Cucomber	Hyper-Yin	Cooling and diuretic
Onion	Yang	Antiseptic
Lettuce	Neutral	Cooling
Eggplant	Yin	Laxative e stimulant
tomato	Yin	Cooling
Fruit	-	-
Orange	Yang	Tonifying
Watermelon	Hyper-Yin	Cooling and diuretic
Banana	Hyper-Yin	Intestine regulating
Cherry	Yang	Pain reducing for reumathisms
Apple	Yin	Digestive
Pear	Hyper-Yin	Expectorant e calming
Peach	Yin	Circulant
Fish	-	-
Prawn	Yang	Sexual abstinence
Mussel	Yin	Sexual abstinence
Sardines	Yang	Tonifying
Meat	-	-
Beef	Yang	Tonifying
Lamb	Hyper-Yang	Tonifying
Horse	Hyper-Yang	Nourishing (for bones and tendons)
Pork	Yin	Riconstituting
Rabbit	Neutral	Aids the liver
Chicken	Yang	Fights arthritis

 

The cooking method influences each food’s nature
Soaked	Hyper-Yin
Boiled	Yin
Steamed	Neutral
Baked	Yang
Grilled, barbequed and flame cooked	Hyper-Yang

Check the seminars page (via the links in the homepage and the 'Qi Gong' page) for all the details of the upcoming courses. Feel free to email questions regarding the courses, or call 0433 005 666.

The Five Elements, a Taoist concept dating back to more than four thousand years ago, represent the cyclic alternating phases of Qi. They are, consequentially, best interpreted as the five phases or stages of transformation of one into the other, that Yin and Yang are costantly undergoing.

The Elements, their Yin-Yang trasformational phase and their colours are: 

[  Wood – beginning of Yang – Green

[  Fire – Yang – Red

[  Earth – Neutral/Centre – Yellow

[  Metal – beginning of Yin – Grey

[  Water – Yin – Black or White

 

There are many other things associated with each Element, besides a specific colour, including an Internal Organ (Zang-Fu) pair, a taste/flavour, an emotional state, an internal/external pathogen and a season. These are:

 

Element	Zang	Fu	Taste	Emotion	Pathogen	Season
Wood	Liver	Gall Bladder	Sour	Anger	Wind	Spring
Fire	Heart	Small Intestine	Bitter	Joy	Heat	Summer
	Pericardium	Triple Heater (San Jiao)
Earth	Spleen	Stomach	Sweet	Reminiscing	Damp	End of Summer
Metal	Lung	Colon	Pungent	Grief/Sadness	Dry	Autumn
Water	Kidney	Bladder	Salty	Fear	Cold	Winter

YIN AND YANG: THE FOUR LAWS The Tao, in its dualistic, perceivable form is represented by the symbol known as ‘Taiji’:

THE TAIJI 

The wholeness is represented by the circle, the Tao. It is divided into two portions, their colours fundamentally contrasting. In the example above, black and white. Yin is black and Yang is white. 

The first law:The total contrast between Yin and Yang determines their polarity within the circle. This turns them into complementary opposites and, consequentially, simultaneously repulsed by and attracted to each other. 

The second law:In the Yin there is a portion (seed) of Yang and in the Yang there is a portion (seed) of Yin.They are indivisible, they contain each other and found one on the seed of the other, giving shape to the Tao. 

The third law:The dividing line between Yin and Yang is curved, where the Yin aspect increases the Yang one decreases and vice versa. This represents the motive, dynamic and self-regulating force of continuing alternation between Yin and Yang, but their quantity and ratio within the circle remains invariably equal. 

The fourth law:Yin begins where Yang reaches its apex. Yang begins where Yin reaches its apex. It can be said that Yin fulfils its growth in the birth of Yang and vice versa. This is the ‘fundamental law of mutation/change’ of the Taoist tradition, relative to the mutual Yin-Yang transformation: ‘Come to its extreme, necessarily it inverts itself’’. Extreme cold generates heat. Extreme heat generates cold.

The interplay between the Yin and the Yang aspects of everything that is governs all universal phenomena, whilst Qi gives it form by way of condensing to different degrees. 

Some examples of the complementing relative polarity between Yin and Yang are: 

Yin	Yang
Contraction	Expansion
Descent	Ascent
Cold	Hot
Moon	Sun
Night	Day
Darkness	Light
Weight	Lightness
Female	Male
Damp/wet	Dry
Viscous/thick	Fluid
Stagnation	Movement
Slow	Fast
Matter	Ether
Form/shape	Function
Death	Life/birth
Earth	Heaven/sky
Old age	Infancy
Rest	Activity
Water	Fire
Internal	External
Blood	Qi (Vital Energy)
Feet	Head
Internal organs	Meridians
Chronic pain	Acute pain

 

The organism’s Vital Energy, or Qi, in quality of energy and information that cannot be perceived through the five senses, is considered Yang, whilst the matter that forms its structure is considered Yin. Consequentially, Qi itself is considered Yang, being ethereal, whilst its material equivalent, the blood, is considered Yin. Psychological and cognitive activity is considered Yang relatively to the metabolic activity and can in itself be further distinguished in ‘more Yin’ and ‘more Yang’ aspects, thus the neuro-motor activity is Yin relatively to the the neuro-sensorial activity. ‘Zhuo’, dense substances, are considered Yin relatively to ‘Qing’, fluid substances.

 

Taoist Dualities of hormones and neurotransmitters
YinSedating or nurturing neurochemicals	YangArousing neurochemicals
Endorphin	Adrenaline
Melatonin	Cortisol
Parathormone	Thyroxin
Oestrogen and Progesterone	Testosterone
GABA	Glutamate
Acetylcholine	Norepinephrine
Serotonin	Dopamine

 

The traditional concept, in the TCM context, of the role of Yin and Yang in metabolism, can be interpreted with modern terms, as: 

Yin	Yang
Nutrition (absorption/integration)	Digestion (movement/evacuation)
Anabolism	Catabolism

Tao: Yin and Yang 

The Tao represents the creative principle, as well as the essence, of all which exists in the universe. The matrix and a perpetually moving, and evolving, force. Pure manifest energy and, as such, totally elusive to human perception, limited by duality and the five senses. Lao Tzu, the great Taoist Master, wrote: ‘The Tao I speak of is not the true Tao’. By this, Lao Tzu was referring to the impossibility of communicating the Tao with words. The human intellect relies on a dualistic and discriminating perception and is, thus, incapable of perceiving and estimating the Tao in its wholeness and indivisibility. By this I mean, for example, that light is perceived, through sight, in contrast to darkness (the lack of light), and that this involves an intrinsic polarity (light-dark).

Yin and Yang are nothing but the interpretation of the Tao when it is subjected to intellectual observation. This two opposing aspects, complementary and interdependent, make discrimination and, consequentially, evaluation possible. Nothing can be only Yin or only Yang, in and of itself, if not relatively to something else (or some own intrinsic aspect). It is, rather, the very nature of that which is observed to determine its own relative prevalence of the Yin or the Yang aspect within itself. For example, a body part can be categorised as being Yin or Yang only relatively to another: the abdomen is Yin in relation to the head, but it’s Yang in relation to the feet (see the 'coordinates' outlined below). One can only exist, and thus be observed and estimated, in relation to the other and only ever as the ultimately equal portion of the fundamental wholeness, the Tao. 

Yin and Yang: invariable coordinates 

The Neijing (a notorious Taoist and TCM* text of antiquity) gives us universal coordinates to categorise the relative prevalence of the Yin or the Yang aspect in that which is observed: 

• up/high is Yang in relation to down/low

• The left is Yang in relation to the right (except in male living beings)

• The posterior aspect is Yang in relation to the anterior one

• The external/distal is Yang in relation to the internal/proximal

Generally, it can also be said that external or meteorological pathogens (Yang – Heaven) prevalently injure Yin organs, whilst the internal and nutritional (Yin – Earth) ones injure prevalently the Yang organs.